Lucca.

Your guest reporter, Euan, taking to the keyboard here.

Lucca is dangerous.

We've slipped in to the Lucca way of life far too easily. Up at nine, a lazy meander to the shops, spending three hours over lunch and shopping till seven.

Yes. Shopping. Me. Shopping.

I don't do shopping. Nor does Suzie.

So someone please explain to me how I manged to shop for six hours and not only be present while Suzie bought bags and shoes but actively encouraged her to buy more?

Last night was really cool. You know the drill, breakfast, bit of shopping, eating out for lunch, little nap, friends of my aunt (who is fab!) around for some nibbles and a splash of sparkly stuff then off to the George Michael concert at Lucca stadium.

Yep, me at a George Michael concert. Who'd have thought eh? OK, I didn't know 3/4s of the songs but who cares? The man puts on a good show.

The next day kicked off with the pair of us hiring bikes to scoot around the walls of Lucca. None of your poncy sports bikes here, good honest working bikes with a basket on the front. It was great zipping around the walls drinking in the sumptuous views. It sure made a nice change to have the wind whipping through my hair (no one wears helmets here).

After such massive exertions we naturally had to have a bit of refreshment and that filtered us nicely through to a 3 hour lunch back at my Aunt's place.

Then came the serious business of shopping which I've already spoken to.

Saturday we woke up at our now customary hour of nine in the morning (or there abouts). My Uncle had arrived late the night before and it was great to see the Aunt and Uncle team in full flight.

We set of for Piza to do the oh so touristy gawk at the Leaning Tower which, cliched though it may sound, just has to be seen to be believed. We've all seen the photos and some of us have been unfortunate enough to see it get straightened and bent again in that frightful Superman movie but until you actually walk around it and see it then it really doesn't sink in.

We also visited the Baptistry which was pretty special. My Uncle and I headed up to the galeria and the visit was made even more special by a singer singining some scales (she might have been singing words but I didn't understand them) and it was just beautiful. The acoustics of the building are out of this world.

There then followed a really nice meal with a picture perfect restraunt with a picture perfect view of the tower. Fantastic stuff.

A strange thing happened back at the flat though. Three of us were in the kitchen when there was a loud thunk. A pigeon had literally dropped dead out of the sky on to a ledge across the court yard. It put us all in mind of Monty Python's parrot sketch.

The fund didn't end there though. We went to a really swish restaraunt for dinner and one of the dishes on offer was Fresh Pigeon Ravioli. You can imagine what we made of that, though I'm not sure that the waitress knew what to make of all of us near enough collapsing in hysterics while she patiently tried to take our drinks order.

Yesterday was spend in the seaside town of Viareggio which featured sumptuous beaches festooned with regimented ranks of sun parasols sun loungers. Neither of us a particularly beachy so we had a delicious lunch and had a turn around the various shops.

It was great to see my Aunt and Uncle again. To be honest I barely recognised my Aunt, the Lucca life clearly agrees with her. So tanned and healthy! Lucca is a charming place and I've little doubt we'll be back although a lottery win may be required.

Onwards to Paris via sleeper Eurostar!